In many cases pateints dont use a meter for testing its bulky and often they forget to test al together.
there was an article at AMA site on using color change strips and urine test strips instead of meters for keeping tabs.

I found Betacheck has a complete idea on this traditional check system!
http://www.betachek.com/Products.htm


It takes one minute. The strips can be cut in half so you can manage twice the amount of testing. Apply a small drop of blood, let it sit for 30 second, then wipe and sit for 30 seconds more. then read the color!
Now this is cool for traveling wihtout the need for meter read errors.

it seems like something that woudl be hand for airline travel too where your restricted on meters............

So how does the color thing actually work? Is there a certain color for a certain read? Since there is no meter that means there is no number so how do you actually read the strip?

The colors are linked to specific numbers. The chart is usually displayed on the side of the bottle. You can hold the strip up to match the color and see the corresponding number underneath, much like how you use urine ketone strips.

This method may not be accurate enough for someone with Type 1 diabetes, or for those who have trouble perceiving differences in color, but it is better than no testing at all!

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Pre-Med Student

I had strips that you could use with or without the meter. It was easy to read as I compared it to the side of the bottle. If I was unsure I'd just pop it in the meter and get reasurance. It is convient when you don't want to bother with your meter.

But don't most of the time you end up using the meter in the first place just to double check. I haven't used strips before so I dont know exactly how they work.

My grand father only ever used strips because it was some time ago that he died. They work in a blunt kind of way, you just don't have the delicacy of a meter. They are just the same as urine dip sticks used for testing protein and sugar and so on.

I can't see how this is better.

It's going backwards to a time when meters were new and too big to carry. I remember those days. Now new meters are so small that it's not that hard to carry them around. You also don't save any money cutting those strips in half. The chemical then is no longer at its best and your reading is off even more.

If you are already sticking yourself for blood, you might as well get a more truthful answer to see what your BG is. And LOL, getting a drop of urine is TOO much of a hassle at best to only get a kind of correct reading.

Might as well use your meter and do a good job of reading how you're doing.

When i was working in the medical field, we had people taht were afraid of lancets, so for them, using urine test strips makes control easier for them in some way.
So if you got that its better, thats not what was meant.
Its just an option for thsoe who cannot or refuse to use a lancet......